Colorado's Green Housing Development… Adjacent to a Plutonium Burial Site

Candelas Glows members at the boundary between Candelas and Rocky Flats where Fish & Wildlife want to burn pesky weeds…

Community members along Colorado’s Front Range are bracing themselves for a possible 701-acre fire that US Fish & Wildlife wants to initiate on ex-nuclear SuperFund site, Rocky Flats. Community members as well as local politicians and municipalities are nearly begging Fish and Wildlife to cancel the burn due to fears of contamination. We echo the sentiments, based on the history of the site, the stories we continue to hear from family, neighbors and ex-workers who suffer physically, animals we have known and love who have gotten sick out there, and based on the previous burn that Fish & Wildlife undertook in 2000. Like the City of Arvada, the Town of Superior, the Rocky Flats Stewardship Council, Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice, and the 2,000+ people who have signed this petition, we do not want to breathe in the contaminated smoke that could billow from the site and its notorious high winds, nor do we want the risk of bare topsoil at the site– even if only briefly. That has gotten the media talking about this issue, from the Daily Camera and a host of other papers including the Examiner and Denver Post, to Fox News, to CBS, ABC. We were deeply dismayed at the recent Rocky Flats Stewarship Council Meeting when Fish and Wildlife seemed to say that they want to go ahead with the burn regardless of community outcry, municipality requests to cancel, and a known history of contamination at the site…. including the “hot spots” reported on by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (see below). US Fish and Wildlife has reiterated they will only give 24-hour notice about the burn (as they assess wind patterns and weather). Here’s a little video with one of our awesome leaders, Alesya Casse explaining some of this in 50 seconds or less. Notice we do not advocate bringing goats onto the land to mitigate for weeds. We think solutions need to be vetted by scientists, officials and community members. Until then, let’s leave the site alone! Please take a moment to help spread the word. Thanks to the Daily Camera for the picture and video .

Meet us at 8:15am, Monday, January 26th, at 11755 Airport Way, Broomfield, CO in the Mount Evans Meeting Room to oppose the prescribed burn on the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge. The Rocky Flats Stewardship Council is having a meeting at 8:30am with David Lucas, manager of the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, from the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Many groups and activists are mobilizing to be heard and oppose the burn.

This is our opportunity as a community to voice our concerns and be a stand against the prescribed burn that is still scheduled for this coming April.

WE NEED YOU to come and let them know that planning such a burn is not responsible management of the land. What is there on the wildlife refuge is unprecedented and treating as though it were any other park where plutonium was not onsite is absolutely outrageous. This doesn’t just impact the neighbors close by, this impacts all of Denver and anywhere the potential fallout may travel.

Get that if we don’t take a stand, no one else will. There is no one else, YOU are it!

We’ve had a pretty awesome year spreading awareness, advocating, raising issues, having fun and building community! Thank you!

Together, we’ve helped the community remember the contaminated history of Rocky Flats, raised awareness about the concerns over new construction in the the area and the effects of the flooding, spoken out about the contaminated dog park (which we investigated with a Geiger Counter), spoken with people who are ill because of Rocky Flats, celebrated the 25 year anniversary of the FBI/EPA raid, garnered media attention, showcased the amazing (radioactive) cold war horse memorial, talked with workers, worked with creators of a Wikipedia page for the contentious and huge development, Candelas (and then defended it), presented, spoken to the EPA, hosted meetings, sparked other activists, like http://www.CandelasConcerns.com, worked with other inspiring advocates and groups like Kristen Iverson, Kathleen Sullivan, LeRoy Moore and Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice.

We’ve had some victories– big and small. The “Thanks!” from workers and neighbors who have faced illness or the death of loved ones and neighbors is the most inspiring. People reaching out to us with stories, questions, concerns and little bits of history has been incredible. Our public meetings were successes beyond our expectations. Of course, we’re happy for the media coverage in the Denver Post, Elephant Journal, the Colorado Independent, Westword (wait, was that 2013?), and more. We went to the site (at Candelas) several times, holding signs and passing out flyers, speaking to neighbors, area realtors and potential home-buyers. And we did it with activists from the original Rocky Flats encirclement as well as a new generation of college students. We stood together out there with people who are sick because of Rocky Flats, with people care-taking sick family members and people whose neighbors had just passed away from rare brain cancers. Most recently, when US Fish & Wildlife declared they wanted to conduct a 700-acre controlled burn at Rocky Flats, we worked with Rocky Mountain Peace & Justice to promote their petition. Because of the hubbub we all raised with neighbors and community members, local towns like Superior started to oppose the burn and even the Rocky Flats Stewardship Council is now publicly opposing the burn!! This is a win-win for everyone. Not bad for an informal community-based group with a budget of $0, huh?

Hopefully we’ll see many more win-wins in 2015! We’d love to see an end to the seed collecting that happens at Rocky Flats, a serious re-consideration of development in the area (including water usage), increased support for sick workers and neighbors, a long-range plan, signage in the area, memorialization of the site, increased research, public meetings with Fish & Wildlife, non-expansion of Standley Lake recreation, continued awareness-raising, including for construction workers at Candelas and nearby developments. May 2015 see increased health, beauty, and peace for all!

Oh– and check out our 2014 Blog review below for more successes!

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 9,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service must cancel the “prescribed burn” planned for the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge in the Spring of 2015. Doing the burn will endanger public health by releasing plutonium particles into the atmosphere over the Denver Metro Area.

In 1990-1991, artist John Freeman created a billboard series to bring attention to the potentially toxic and hazardous operations of Rocky Flats. He was warning us that every day the plant was in operation, it was creating waste that would keep the site toxic for hundreds of thousands of years. Now, after only a few decades and 25 years after the FBI/EPA raid that shut down the plant, development is underway and planned in ways no one would have imagined then because of the known contamination. Many locals, experts, ex-officials and ex-workers are horrified at pending underway developments in the area that could still pose a public health threat. But many people thinking about recreating or moving into housing developments like Candelas and Whisper Creek are moving from outside the area and often from outside the state.

As much of this development has been pushed through with attempts to minimize debate and sweep concerns under (the radioactive) rug, locals have been beginning to gather voicing their collective concerns. We will again be gathering to raise awareness about Rocky Flats’ controversial, contaminated past and keep its memory alive so that people can be protected from its potential hazards.

We’ll educate and raise awareness, discuss, and take action to say no to development around Rocky Flats, no to opening a “wildlife refuge” on contaminated soil, no to a plutonium parkway, and no to pumping water from the Western slope to feed over-sized, controversial housing. We want communities, children and animals nearby and downwind to be protected and ex-workers to be honored and treated. We’ll have information, signs, and extra has-mat suits for those who want them.

For those who’d like more information first or who would like to help make signs and prepare can come to a teach-in Wednesday July 16th from 6pm to 7:55pm ** LOCATION CHANGED: at the Lakewood Public Library.**

KB Homes hosts a Grand Opening this weekend Westwoods Mesa When we began making waves about Candelas, people asked why we hadn’t targeted some of the other developments in the area. After looking at some of the contamination maps, we realized they were right! The concerns are not just with Candelas by any means. Along with Candelas and Whispering Creek, here’s another (beautiful) new development from which we hope no workers or residents are harmed.

Sunday’s Denver Post (2/9/14) featured an article on community concerns about Colorado’s controversial developments surrounding Rocky Flats, an infamous former nuclear weapons plant. The coverage is important because much of the housing developments have occurred without much public debate. Many neighbors, ex-workers, and people in the know shake their heads or have conversations about their surprise, dismay, or worries, in fact those conversations helped spark “Candelas Glows.” The controversy has largely flown under the media radar, however, which could be bad news for new-comers, neighbors, residents and workers.

The release of this article is a good time to reiterate that the concerns here are not just about the families moving into these homes adjacent to Rocky Flats. If the soil is contaminated, then the dust is contaminated and workers are digging in it and kicking it up for folks in Denver, Westminster, Arvada, Broomfield and Superior, etc. to breathe it in. What about workers and neighbors?

One thing still to be adequately covered by the media and authorities include the effects of September’s flooding on the site, both on and below the surface including nearby water, some of which serves as drinking water to nearby communities. Who will have oversight on this land when other natural disasters like the flooding or drought occur? US Fish & Wildlife?! Will they know what to watch out for to protect the public from their “Wildlife Refuge?”

Please take a moment to comment on the article, or better yet, respond through a letter to the editor. It doesn’t have to big or fancy. It’s important that your thoughts be shared– even if you’re not a “professional protester,” scientist or policy maker!